Creating Prep to Play PRO for women playing elite Australian football:A how-to guide for developing injury-prevention programs

Background:Developing context-specific,evidence-informed,and implementable injury-prevention programs is challenging.Women playing in the elite Australian Football League for Women are at high risk of serious knee injuries,and no specific injury-prevention program exists.The objective of the study was to describe the collaborative process used to create a context-specific injury-prevention program.Methods:A previously used intervention-development process was modified to incorporate a partnership with the sport’s governing organization and focus on engaging program implementers.The Reach Effectiveness Adoption Implementation and Maintenance(RE-AIM)Sports Setting Matrix guided program development and implementation strategies.Results:The 7-step process,aligned with the RE-AIM Sports Setting Matrix,was applied to develop the injury-prevention program and was titled Prep to Play PRO.The steps were:(Step 1)gaining organizational support and establishing a project partnership;(Step 2)using research evidence and clinical experience;(Step 3)consulting content and context experts;(Step 4)engaging the organization,experts,program implementers,and end-users to concreate the intervention and develop implementation strategies;(Step 5)testing the intervention acceptability and feasibility;(Step 6)evaluating the intervention and implementation strategies against theory;and(Step 7)obtaining feedback from early implementers and end-users.Conclusion:Engaging critical stakeholders at multiple ecological levels(organization,team,and athlete)throughout program development and implementation planning support real-world use.The processes and activities described can guide future sports injury-prevention program development and implementation.